A fan-made film based on the successful Power Rangers films and television series has draw the ire of Saban Brands, the Hollywood company that owns the franchise.

The 14-minute film, which stars CSI: Cyber actor James Van Der Beek and Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff, was shot in seven days on a minuscule budget but has attracted more than seven million plays on YouTube.

It has also attracted the attention of Saban Brands which, filmmaker Joseph Kahn says, is "harrassing" him.

Kahn's film was hosted on the web video site Vimeo before being taken down for an alleged breach of copyright from Saban, even though the clip contains only original material.

The clip hosted on YouTube is still up – and gaining momentum.

Kahn said on social media the short film was "made to be given away for free".

"It is just as if I drew a pic of Power Rangers on a napkin and I gave it to my friend. Is it illegal to give pic I drew of a character on a napkin to someone for free? No."

And, seemingly to Saban, he added: "The world is watching your actions right now."

Saban is trying to shut POWER/RANGERS down. If you'd like to keep watching, tell them to stop harassing me http://t.co/Gb3KfwMbAX — Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) February 24, 2015

Y'all better watch the shit out of POWER/RANGERS. No idea how long it'll be up. Going to bed. Goodnight. https://t.co/PMbHwGD3ix — Joseph Kahn (@JosephKahn) February 24, 2015

Fan-produced films have been a cottage industry around the world for more than two decades, usually spun out of big genre franchises such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and the DC and Marvel-owned comic worlds. For the most part they have been ignored by Hollywood.

Some have even gone on to become classics in the fan world, such as the Star Wars short films Troops and Dark Redemption, the Star Trek web series Phase II, the miniseries Star Trek: Of Gods and Men and the fan film Spider-Man: Eclipse.

The legal minefield in which fan films reside has historically been left untouched by Hollywood studios because the people making the films, and the people watching them, are among the most passionate fans of a given film or television franchise.

Pursuing them legally has, for the most part, been either a fruitless endeavour or one that actually damages the studio brand because the bigger corporation is inevitably seen as a bully, picking on fans having fun. The rise of events such as Comic-Con has also served to cement the commercial benefits of allowing fans to express themselves.

America's copyright laws are complex, though "free speech" laws, which includes satire, are generous. A distinction is typically drawn between projects that are for profit and those that are not.

Projects such as Star Trek: Phase II, which produces full-length episodes from a supposed "fourth season" of Star Trek's original 1960s-era series, declare their non-profit status loudly. And as a result, the franchise's owner Paramount Studios, has historically left them alone.

Saban Brands, on the other hand, does not seem to be feeling so generous.

The Power Rangers franchise launched with a low-budget TV series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in 1993, largely produced out of re-used footage from Japanese "tokusatsu" series Super Sentai.

Tokusatsu is a Japanese genre that blends live action with special effects.

In part, the issue may stem from the high production value of the short film, a by-product of the fact that backyard film-making technology has, to some extent, caught up with Hollywood film-making technology.

The Star Wars film Dark Redemption, which was made in Australia, had a similar issue in that Star Wars creator George Lucas was reportedly ill at ease with how good it looked, and its use of professional actors and stuntmen.